To NoobTube or not to NoobTube

With the Call of Duty series and some other games, came the term known as Noob Tubing. What is it exactly you might ask? Well in a first person shooter there are weapons that come with a grenade launcher attachment. This attachment can easily be fired at the general vicinity of your target and allow yourself to score a kill, or two, possible three if you are a real jerk.

The fact is that in most games these weapons ARE NOT BALANCED. Seriously, with one weapon you need to carefully aim it towards a player and land at least a couple of shots on them, whereas with the other you can aim in their general direction and get a kill every time.

Look at how games of old handled these kind of weapons. Take Quake 3 Arena for example. The rocket launcher in that game doesn't create a huge blast radius that's almost impossible to dodge. If you are close enough so that you can't dodge it, it doesn't kill you in one hit. It's no easier to use than, say, the railgun which requires perfect accuracy - because if I don't hit you with perfect accuracy with the RL (and even if I do but you have high HP), it's not going to kill you. Grenades in that game can't just be spammed at will at any time - they have a small blast radius, are easily avoided unless you're in a corner, cannot be 'cooked' and are a seperate weapon. If you start firing random grenades everywhere you will NOT get lots of random kills. Likewise when you die it will very rarely be from a random rocket or grenade - it will be from a weapon someone has aimed at you.

Why do games of today forget these principles of balance in order to offer easy kills (and easy deaths) to everyone?

Because variety and shifting balance is the only way to creates dynamic battles. Engagements of chance depending on weapon load outs (Call of duty specifically) you made and committed with to join the game is what is fun. You all would complain and lose interests if everyone had the same gun. How many sniper on sniper games can you handle? Get's boring after a while.

And for all the people claiming foul on campers. A grenade launcher seems to fix that pretty quick. No complaints then.

Most people I see crying foul about noob tubes are hypocrites.

Hell if game weapons are cheap don't join the military. The weapons the U.S. deploy will blow you away with there simplicity and lethality. Life is not fair but people want a game to be?

They still fall under the classification of NTD (No Talent Device) along with shot guns and riot shields. At least some of the weapons in akimbo mode needs some aim. I don't think the problems are the weapons...it is the players that choose to use them to point of being annoying. If it becomes a problem then make sure you are on with a few friends and make it a point to constantly hunt them down until they decide to take their nuisance elsewhere...simple.

Notice that I'm not saying that I can't beat these people using these noob weapons. But the easiest way TO beat them is to use the overpowered weapon itself. This, if everybody simply wanted to get the most kills possible, would result in everybody using the more powerful weapon. But it's boring to use the same weapon all the time, and THAT is what people complain about.

It's like camping - the "best" strategy in almost ANY online game (to get the highest KPD) is to camp in a corner where nobody can see you and shoot people as they come past. But if everyone camps, the game is boring! So people complain about campers, because whilst, yes, the camper is using the best strategy, people could use the same strategy themselves but have chosen not to because it makes the game boring.

In the same way, the "best" strategy is to use grenade launchers and other overpowered weapons, but if everybody uses them, all the time, the game is boring. So people complain about people who use them, because whilst, yes, the noobtuber is using the best strategy, people could use the same strategy themselves but have chosen not to because it makes the game boring.

In most games there becomes a point where there is an unwritten code - for instance, on many CS:S servers people will opt for the Scout rather than the AWP, because people know the AWP is overpowered and unfair. (Some servers explicitly restrict its use). In Killzone 2, you choose a class other than the assault class with a rocket launcher for the same reasons, and some servers explicitly restrict its use also.

that awp in cs doesn't always kill in 1 shot though. Sometimes people survive with 12hp when shot at the foot or arms. Any weapon can be overpowered when the weapons are being used by a skilled player. Same on the other side, if you're skilled enough to not expose your location and still kill, why complain? Unless.. the complainers are noobs (which most likely is the case). Remember bunny hop from CS? Knife + bhop = R.I.P. til the crybabies started complaining how unfair it is cause they couldn't bhop.

If you ask most people, especially a couple of years ago they'd say that they don't play video games and if they do, it's the single player. Even now it's true.

The fact is most good MP games require time to get good at, and your average casual gamer who just finished the SP on easy, saved the world and feels like he is top sh1t doesn't like being owned by someone who's played FPSs for several years before he even knew they existed. Instead, nowadays any 10 year old can jump in, get some lucky tube/nade kills, follow that up with an airstrike, and whatever manner of other arcadey powerups that MW2 is chock full of and feel gratified.

Well that and the same group of people's obsession with realism. Realism may well belong in SP but sure as hell not MP. Who cares if grenade launchers really exist. If they destroy the gameplay and make living and dying random they don't need to be there or should be drastically toned down. How far do you want realism to go, do you want reloads to function like they do in real life instead of topping up your ammo? Do you want a game where you're crippled by one bullet? No? Then stop being a hypocrite.

Not to turn this into a MW2 thread, but this is part of the insult of crippling customisation. Hardcore gamers were A OK with noobtubes as long as they could play in their separate custom games with the necessary restrictions. No longer.

Sorry, but the only real jerks in that case are the three idiots that are running around the map huddled together. If you group up at all, stay in pairs, not threes. Fire forward and cover rear in pairs. Watch your corners and move immediately after firing your weapon. Noob tubes are useful when you have a team full of campers. It all balances out in the end. My favorite weapon so far is the SCAR with a silencer and the ninja perk along with the ability to run unlimited and lightweight. You can do some major sneaking and never have to camp. I hate campers... They are even worse than noob tubers.

Many multi player games fail miserably with rocket launchers and grenade launchers. They either have too much ammo, or they are way too powerful and easy to get. Killzone2 for example had these freaking "berserker" assault n00bs who just ran around shooting bazooka in to a random direction hoping to get a kill or 2 then die and repeat the process.

Then there are these games where every1 just throws their grenades at the beginning of a game to the other side of the map to hope for few lucky kills.

Before few patches, in resistance multi player there where really no reason to use anything else than carbine. Why? well since carbine grenade was a instant kill and as most players where using them it wasn't too hard to get 1-2 grenades to get quick kills. It was more of battle between reflexes on how managed to shoot the grenade first.

And if there was no grenade launcher, people will complain about the Barrett, no Barrett then all complaints go to the rocket launchers. It never ends. There is always someone who believes a item offered by a game should not be used to maintain some sort of pathetic sense of gaming honor.

I use what I feel like and how I feel like using it. Some days I feel like a grenade launcher and some days a rocket. Crying about it won't change my weapon choice.

yes its not fair people want balance the fact you say hypocrites and stuff is hilarious we all know how you get most of your kills.

Lets all hold hands and yell what ifs at each other. calling a gun that fires bullets lame is never the same lame level as 203 from across the map. scrubs use 203's if they didn't why are they banned in almost every single competitive gaming site on the planet and tournaments.

What are you 14? No wonder you suck. A good player finds a way to own regardless. I never use weapons regarded as cheap or noobish but for some reason I don't have to. I also don't have to b*tch and moan cause some kid got an easy kill off of me.

i accept your challenge what system do you game on? Ps3 Blacktar 360 Thizzwshngtn

look them up or better yet if you have a clan send some clan challenges to Invidious Tactics.

MLG or GB which are partnered so basically the same thing now.

No where did i say i dont win or kill regardless but i guess someone who defends GL would make assumptions like that. Why dont you strap up your boots and come play with me and my clan and see how far you get with crap talkign i can back it up.

Whats your name ill check your KDR and Win and Accuracy and we will see who's is better.

Do you have a clan whats its name i would love to look it up

I got it UnwanteDreams

ill send you a friend inv when i get home from work you can accept it if you want but you better have some ungodly stats like over a 2.3 kdr to be talking all this. and im the last in my clan with a 2.3 kdr most have 3's and 4's.

It may sound liek i take this to serious but im really not if you use a 203 as a main source for a bunch of your kills then thats fine. But if you do it every now and then for fun im all for that as well i haven't yet but that doesn't mean i wont sometime. but to defend it is what im pissed at admit you do it and say hey its the easiest way to kill someone and its in the game i can accept that but anything else is laughable.

I sound worked up but im not but i still would ove to see this awe inspiring skill that unwanted seems to have if anything i can get better playing against the second coming who can read minds and who knows what else. I cant wait

Seriously why do you care if others use noob guns when you can own them anyway?

IMO if a gun is in the game and you don't like people who use that gun you can't ask them not to or even complain. The game was made with that gun in mind so if you hate it that much go find a game that doesn't have noobtubes.

Complaining about what guns people use is so cheap. I could complain about snipers and how twitching (quick scope) gives better accuracy which sounds a lot more retarded then having grenade launcher attachments.

My advice to you. If it hurts you so much because others use noobtubes beat them or join them and get over yourself.

I am so sorry I missed this rant. I was speaking from a general standpoint in regards to noob weapons. You think MW2s noobtube is the first to have this said about it?

I can see you play lots of MW2 I myself haven't even played the title online. I never challenged you to do anything other than quit crying about it. You yourself say you don't need it to get kills and you don't lose to people who use it.

Beleive it or not there are gamers who prefer to be explosive. They like to blow stuff up. why castrate them?

Rocket launchers, grenade launchers, grenades and explosives are all fair. all is fair in love and war. nerfing the radius of explosions is stupid and unrealistic. the greatest counter to an explosive player is to shoot them in the head. its a challenge but you chose to use a gun and swear by it so now you have to prove yur worth and get headshots.

@BlackTar.... LOL!!! "Its so funny to me thats all you can pick out to comment on. shows where your at lol." Again little one it's you're not your. Silly little geek monster! You're that kid that is all upset after a match and starts yelling " 1v1 me, 1v1 me, 1v1 me". Face it, you suck kid. I'm on 360 and my tag is just the same as what you read above... I'm guessing you can read which is a stretch considering you can't tell when to use your or you're. Come see me and get my M203 in the mouth.

heh, I used to love noob-tubing in Battlefield 2 when it was new. Then 6 billion other idiots in the game realised that it was the only way they could actually score kills so EA went and nerfed the damn thing until it had the effectiveness of a rolled up sock.

and guess what no one uses it as much why because they cant get kills from it they have to go back to something that takes skill and most of those people fail.

People who defend noob tubing to the point of saying it like some have said above =noobs. hell noob tube every now and then for fun why not but to use it as a main weapon and when over 60% of your kills in a round come from it you suck at the game and need to take lessons on aiming down the ironsights

but the kind of people that are "NoobTubes" are the ones that fire the grenade launcher from the start of the round (especially in search and destroy) and kill a bunch of people from the other team,and the round has just started!

Isn't it the same as walking into a room mined with a claymore? Is it cheap? No, it's warfare. How bout tanks blasting shells into everything? No, it's warfare. Most games have a limited amount of ammo for exposives per loadout, and only replenish after you die.

Don't like being riddled with explosives? Play in the modes where you can only die once per match. Real war sure would be different if you could physically respawn to a new area every 15secs.

Noobs get the bad rap because they might use the grenade launcher(GL)??? What about the noob that jumps into a game and is getting killed left and right by Turrent, UAV's, Helicopters and ... the AC130. I mean come on. The GL requires some focus, the UAV, just land it within the map and someone dies! I hate that thing. BTW, I never used it before, but you bet tonight I will use it every time I get hit by the F'n UAV.

BlakeSmoke, I think they haven't played it. In MW1, it was like radar, in MW2, it shots at you! Oh, and it does kill you, trust me. Nothing like watch the kill cam 10 times a game as it rains down on you!

It's only noob tubing if you use it on any random enemy. If you're using it situationally on enemies behind hard cover that you couldn't easily reach with bullets, then there's nothing wrong with it. That's what they're built for.

They should just limit it to one grenade for your launcher per life. If you want more of them, just use the Scavenger perk. That way you have to give up another perk (i.e. Sleight of Hand) to rack up any kills like that. There you have it. Balanced. You're welcome Infinity Ward.

I have no problem with it.then again I am a sniper and have no problem putting a bullet in your head.But hey i hate auto aim takes away that skill needed to unload a clip in a moving target.also games that practically have no recoil are bullet drop makes assult rifles as accurate on auto as my sniper.but here what you do knife the fools it always makes you feel better.And i do believe a 40mm grenade has about a 30 foot fatal range.

i don't really care about noob tubing in mw2. what does, are those with stingers and those lock on rocket launchers. A few times is enough but every single UAV, Counter UAV, and anything that stays in the air, you have to bring down? hek. My harriers and helicopters didn't even last 3 seconds to even get a single kill. there's no use in getting mad so join in :) LOL they got so pissed. Anyways, noob tubing is alright to a point. I for one only use it to get campers out of their spots.

Hell yeah! I bring down every god damn thing in the sky within seconds of takeoff: uav, counter uav, harrier, helis, AC130, etc...it's pisses off the other team so much! I bring down pavelows BEFORE they even enter the map :P

I'm not so much against the weapon as I am how people use it. My main game type is hardcore search and destroy. It seems that a good amount of maps in this modern warfare have the ability to noobtube into the opponents spawn almost right as the round starts. You aren't allowed to use some killstreak perks for 6 seconds at the start of a round, why not make it so you can't spawn kill?

I'M SURE THAT MOST OF THE COMPLAINERS ABOUT THE "NOOB TOOB" ARE THE SAME ONES ON HERE CAMPING.

I would prefer some changes also, but that also means a change in the MP level layout too. People sit and camp a lot! I get irritated, but don't whine....I just work on my game to stop it. (It is what I had to do in Modern Warfare 1.) If changes are made for this, then it's gonna spark an argument on the care packages, custom streaks, and camping. (Things that I can't stand the most...and feel like it runnined my experience with Call od Duty.)

People who need to be placed in games together. They ruin the game for skilled players. If you use it to attack a group of people it makes sense. But running around shooting people at point blank range with it is for boobs. And IW encourages it by not having the blast kill the person that shoots it. All of the other grenades affect the user. All except explosive grenades. It makes no sense.

IW also need to do a better job of balancing weapons and making them more like their real life counterparts. It has never made sense that the M4 and the M16 have different damage ratings when the are basically the same gun. Or the Kriss and the UMP. Both are 45cal. And they need to stop making arcade features like impenetrable shields and 10 feet stabbing leaps. Yeah, try stabbing someone after they've started shooting you for real.